Triumphant ending

Tags

car, daily, formula one, photo101, Photography, Postaday, projects

Lewis Hamilton at Goodwood

The final weekday prompt for Photography 101 arrived this morning:-(, it has been great fun but gone way to quick. The prompt is “Today, let’s bump up the contrast for a bold take on triumph.”

When I completed my very first project 365 in May 2010, I felt a real sense of achievement. During that year I went from always shooting in automatic to learning how to use my camera manually. It was such an eye opener, it was what really spurred my love of photography on, I could get the pictures I had envisaged in my head so much easier. It was such a relief to know that I had stuck with it and that I had learnt from not missing a day and experimenting. My daughter helped me with the shot above, I had planned to do the jump, but she had an Inset day off school, saw me messing about in the garden and wanted to join in. The shots of her jumping ended up so much better, it really was a triumphant jump for joy as I had finished the project on a high.

I still feel as though I am learning, there are so many genres and so many possibilities. I think that is one of the reasons I love this hobby so much, I get a real buzz when I get the shot I want.

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Double double………

Tags

art, daily, fine art, food, nature, photo101, photoaday, Postaday, still life

The penultimate day of Photo 101 and the prompt is “Today, you and your camera are seeing double.”

I love taking photos of reflections and it is a great way to see two of anything, the above garlic shot was taken in my kitchen at night on a black granite worktop, the only light source was a halogen torch.

Two can also refer to two items that occur naturally, such as the two buttercup flowers and two buds in the above photo. I loved the way the petals were shining in the sunshine. Roll on the warmer weather, I need some sunshine.

On the edge of opportunity

Tags

architecture, art, daily, doors, photo101, Postaday

“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door.” – Milton Berle

The red door

In response to the Photo 101 prompt of edge – “Today is all about straight edges, and tweaking your image to ensure your lines are perfectly positioned.”

My go to editing program is Lightroom, I love the way the program is so intuitive. I did try straightening my images in Photoshop before I started using Lightroom several years ago now, I just found it much more complicated.

All my photos are imported into Lightroom initially from my SD card, where I use the library to organise them (that will be another post one day, I am sure). I then do most of my editing in Lightroom, including of course straightening them, if required that is. Once these are done I do any texture work or “artistic edits”, together with adding my logo in Photoshop CC (prior to having the photographers subscription with Adobe, I used to use Elements). Then that is generally job done!

What’s behind door number 4?

Glass three ways

Tags

art, daily, fine art, glass, photo101, photoaday, Photography

Room with a view

The email was in my inbox first thing this morning from Cheri with the Photo 101 prompt for today:

“Incorporate a form of glass into your image to add a layer of complexity.”

I immediately thought of my photo above which was taken on a visit to a Barrington Court, a National Trust property in Somerset.

Looking beyond

Glass can also be used in a more artistic way, as above. Here I used a sheet of glass supported by food tins, placed a colourful sheet of paper about 20cm below the glass. I then put  a few droplets of water onto the glass and using my macro lens focused on the image in them. The possibilities here are endless and it is fun to do.

Odd one out

Marbles of course are made of glass and can also be fun to shoot, I love catching the reflections within, I often manage a unintentional selfie too when taking these type of photos.

Treasures of the sea

Tags

art, fine art, fossils, photo101, Photography, seaside, shells, treasure

The heart of the matter

I cannot believe that Photo 101 is nearly over, only one week to go, I will really miss the challenges 😦  I have therefore decided to join in with  an ABC challenge in April, how do you fancy joining in? It would be fabulous to see some of my new blog friends doing this too. 🙂

The prompt for today was “Show us something (or someone) you cherish, and get up close.” Well I LOVE being by the sea, walking along the coast  either on the beach or along the coastal paths it is just so exhilarating. These are just a few of the collection of shells and of course fossils my two kids have collected on our many visits to Dorset and Devon.

Sea treasures

Ammonite

What a view!

Tags

art, Canada, landscape, photo101, photoaday, Reflections

“There is no certainty; there is only adventure.”

– Roberto Assagioli

Days end

The prompt for Photo 101 today was “snap a picture of a landscape. Focus on the gestalt — the entire setting as a whole — rather than a specific subject or focal point within the scene. The setting itself is the star.”

I thought for todays prompt I would just let the photos do the talking, please let me know what you thin? These were all taken on my last holiday to Canada (August 2014).

Climbing to the top

Reflections

Bridge over still waters

Forget me not………..

Tags

art, blogging101, daily, flowers, photo101, photoaday, Photography, scale

Forget-me-not

For Photography 101 we were encouraged to  “Insert something into a scene to highlight size, and the size relationships between elements within a shot.”

I have meetings all day at work during daylight hours so have had to revert to my vast archives yet again. I think my finger and thumb holding these flowers helps show how small the forget me not flowers actually are.

I am really enjoying doing these two courses, I have loved the themes so far on Photo 101 and cannot believe how much I have learnt about WordPress and blogging so far on Blogging 101. A further plus point is that I have stuck to daily blog posts, some days posting more than once (which has really surprised me!).

I may though have bit off a little too much doing both Photo101 and Blogging101 at the same time, as I feel that to get the prompts done I have had to neglect my photography research a little in favour of them.

Blogging 101 encouraged us to “extend your brand with one of the following: a custom Blavatar, a custom image widget, or a fan page.” I already have a photography page on Facebook which I started a while ago so will continue to update that. I then decided to have a go at doing a Blavatar, first of all I had to look what it was up as it was a new one on me!

I chose two of my photos and added a little text to them in Photoshop to personalise them a little more, hopefully they work. I really would love some feedback, which one do you think works best, or should I go back to the drawing board as they say and try again. I have uploaded the bee one for now, just so I had one, but do let me know which one you think works best?

Childhood moments

Tags

blogging101, childhood, daily, lensbaby, photo101, Photography

“To photograph is to hold one’s breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It’s at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson

Time in motion

I have often used a slower shutter speed to capture movement, as mentioned in the email for Photo 101 “movement is a great way to convey time and fleetingness”.

Since my two children were small I have taken photos of them. I do not want to miss any of the simple moments of childhood as they are far too fleeting. I embrace the ordinary, going beyond simply capturing birthdays, holidays, and special occasions. I am capturing their childhood! Toys left on the floor, homework being done, sleeping, waking up, eating, playing, happiness, tears, moods, you name it I shoot it. I think my kids are so used to having their photos taken now that most of the time they do not mind, often not even noticing that I have taken any.  🙂 Even my son who is not as keen as he used to be realises why I take photos and lets me (within a time frame) take them. He often looks back fondly on all the photos I have taken and the memories that they help keep alive.

The photos below were all taken with a slightly slower shutter speed with a Lensbaby, I love the additional sense of motion that the Lensbaby blur gave to the shots.

Playground to and fro

Fun and games in the playground

For Blogging 101 we are encouraged to enter another blogging event, I never knew there were so many, I will have to have a look through and see if any will work for me and my blog, so watch this space 🙂

Capital city architecture

Tags

architecture, art, black and white, blogging101, Canada, daily, photo101, photoaday, Photography, Places

Parliament Buildings

I looked at my email on Blogging 101, then headed off to check what theme was on the daily post (well it was Places when I checked at 8am GMT this morning!
), I then headed over to my email for Photo 101 and when I saw that it was on architecture, I had a little jump for joy, as I knew I could do a post to incorporate all three 🙂 All these photos were taken whilst my family was on holiday in Canada last year visiting my relatives.

Parliament Buildings (original)

The brief for Photo 101 was “”Study architectural forms, and also train your eye to look for shots that will translate well in black and white.”

I have taken quite a few photos of architecture since I started shooting in digital, it is not the genre that I feel most comfortable with, mainly I think due to lack of practice, but that does not stop me taking photos 🙂

Reflections of old

Reflections of old (original)

What is your preference, do you prefer these in black and white or colour, do my conversions work? (all of these were processed in Lightroom). I would LOVE to know what you think.

First Baptist Church

First Baptist Church (original)

I have a few sites that I bookmarked as of interest on architectural photography, so thought I would share three of them here as I know it is something I would like to practice. After all there is architecture all around us and the UK has some very old examples as well as new for me to practice on:

• Photoblur – I loved the abstract nature of the photographs here and the 10 tips are very good.
• Exposure Guide – some good tips on architecture as well as other genres
• Light Stalking – a nice article with some good points

To stand out from the crowd

Tags

art, daily, fine art, learning, photo101, Photography

Stand out from the crowd

Todays Photo101 prompt is all about colour. “The colours in our photographs are evocative and rouse emotions within us. Colour can elevate a mundane image into something intriguing and meaningful, and can tell a particular story within the frame.”

Hiding

The wall of orange

Isolation